Not everyone wants devolution

Plus: turmoil in the games industry

Jul 23, 2026

For decades, both Labour and Conservative politicians have more or less agreed to devolve some power from Westminster. But now that Andy Burnham is giving the issue unprecedented centrality, might he provoke a backlash?

In today’s Lightbulb, Jack Shaw and Dylan Cridland present exclusive analysis showing that more than a third of Labour-held constituencies are not covered by a mayor—and many of the MPs who hold these seats are on thin margins. They are thus risk-averse and, despite publicly supporting devolution, many are more skeptical in private. Burnham will need to assuage their concerns.

There has been plenty of change around the cabinet table, but one person staying in the same job is the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy. On today’s episode of Media Confidential, Alan and Lionel (who interviewed Nandy last year) discuss her upcoming challenges, particularly BBC charter renewal. Nandy also oversees the nation’s often overlooked video games industry, and even revealed last year that she is a gamer of sorts herself, having put “a lot of hours” into Animal Crossing.

Prospect’s culture editor Pete Hoskin (who moonlights as a games reviewer) has spent much time reminding people of the industry’s economic significance. But now, he finds himself trying to “convince the uninitiated of how weak and vulnerable the industry is.”

A particular lightning rod is Sony’s recent decision to end the production of physical discs for new PlayStation games from January 2028. One of the reasons is the 300 per cent rise in the price of DDR5 RAM since September last year, because our new artificial intelligence infrastructure requires it. The games and AI industries are intertwined in other ways too—indeed, as Peter argued last year, games are “the driving force behind the AI revolution.”

P.S. for PC Gamer, Joshua Wolens has turned some of the right’s hyperbolic response to Burnham’s rise into an amusing video game simulation. And finally, thanks for the copious contributions to the debate on what constitutes “the north” of the country. Andrew sent in this very helpful video you might find useful. Email your thoughts to ben.clark@prospectmagazine.co.uk.